Nothing Short of a Miracle : God’s Healing Power in Modern Saints

Nothing Short of a Miracleis a fascinating look into the Vatican’s process for approving miracles that lead to the beatification and canonization of saints. Author Patricia Treece walks the reader through how the process played out for some of our more recent modern saints. You will learn what miracles the Vatican approved as being valid cures attributed to the likes of Pope John Paul II, Fr. Solanus Casey, John Neumann, Elizabeth Ann Seton, and Padre Pio to name a few.

In the introduction of the book, Patricia outlines the entire seven step process for an alleged miracle to be officially recognized by the Vatican. This is a very stringent and time consuming process, and rightfully so. The Church is doing everything she can to ensure authenticity of these alleged miracles. Indeed, you will learn, to be elevated to sainthood is no easy task.

Upon learning about the process, Patricia proceeds to chronicle the details of multiple miracles attributed to some of our modern saints. Each are described in full detail giving the reader a true sense of just how amazing each miraculous cure really is. Some of these miracles which were approved by the Vatican include:

– Infant Peter Smith’s healing from want should have been permanent eye damage after a nurse accidentally, after his birth, put 50% nitrate solution in his eyes instead of the usual 1%. This miracle was used for the beatification of Mother Frances Cabrini.

– Sr. Marie Simon-Pierre’s healing from debilitating Parkinson’s disease courtesy of the intercession of Pope John Paul II. What was most unusual about her condition was she was only 40 years old. This miracle was the one used for his beatification.

– To elevate Pope John Paul II to sainthood the Vatican approved the miraculous healing of Floribeth Mora. Written off as sure to die from an untreatable brain aneurism she recovered 100%……..on the exact day of Pope John Paul’s beatification.

– Sarah McKeough was diagnosed with a tumor in the breast. She prayed a novena to John Neumann daily before his tomb. The final day of the novena was her surgery. After prepping her for surgery the doctor upon getting ready to make his incisions……found the tumor disappeared.

– Brother Andre Bessette, through his intercession approved by the Vatican, healed Joe Audino from a rare form of cancer called reticulum cell sarcoma. He had been given 30 days to live.

Patricia also goes beyond the Vatican approved miracles to provide story upon story of healing that recipients attribute to various saints. Additionally she even tells of some healings that occurred while these holy men and women were still alive. The key point to remember is that though the recipients give credit to these holy people, they in turn take no credit. Pope John Paul II managed to keep cures unknown. The Vatican quickly moved to smother any story that surfaced. His personal secretary Stanislaus Dziwisz provides us the following quote from Pope John Paul himself. “God performs miracles. I simply pray. Those are divine mysteries. Let’s not dwell on it.” Brother Andre dismissed credit for healing he performed stating simply that all credit be given to St. Joseph. Still others brushed any credit off preferring to turn all praise to God.

This book is filled with so many accounts of miraculous cures that I cannot possibly touch upon them all in this review. The entire book from the intro to the final page held my attention and I am sure it will yours as well. Undoubtedly the reader will walk away with a renewed belief in the power of intercessory prayer to the saints.